The Vampire And The Maiden, part 1

Most of the time Jessenna took pride in her reputation- tough, fiery, and not to be underestimated- but it was hard to appear to be anything close to those things she viewed as precious when in a large, corseted ball gown and the men in her department, save Marcellus, let her know about it.

"How are you supposed to hit someone in that," someone asked, plucking at her last nerve.

Quick as a cobra strike she grabbed her coworker's collar and grimaced, "care for a demonstration?" She shook with nerves but her victim was too surprised to notice.

Marcellus handed his tiny fireball of a partner her mask fashioned like a cat's face, effectively ending the brief altercation.

Jessenna accepted it with a quiet thank you before leaving the security office, the laughter fading away with every step.

"Remember, balance," she breathed to herself as Micah's words rolled through her busy brain, "no hitting, no stabbing, just be calm." Yeah right. Last time it all ended in a mess. Well, it started in a mess too to be fair. So why was she doing this again?

Well. He was kind of cute and he still hadn't ratted her out about the knife thing.

The transporter room came into view and so she grabbed her mask tightly before stepping through the door, masking herself with an over abundance of confidence.

He both dreaded and relished an idea of a costumed event. Being an intelligence officer, he was quite at home at putting on guises to achieve a goal, both from dashing gentleman to the local street bum. More often than not he preferred the street bum though, they were less noticable. Which suited him just fine. But with his new promotion to PO1 after the Nimbus mission and Lt. Nivans' urging to take this opportunity to talk to Little Sparky, he couldn't exactly go to this event dressed as a street bum.

So, he went with a little bit of history. 19th century Earth to be precise. Standard pants and trousers for the era, black, neatly pressed, a dark, scarlet red shirt, with a black, double breasted waist coat, with same scarlet coloured decorative piping. He decided to discard the standard shawl that went with it due to heat, and the black cloak with same decorative lining, with the smaller shoulder flap aswell, was of a very light material.

He'd even shaved for the occasion and combed his hair back into a semblance of propriety. A top hat sat atop his head, an eye, nose and half forehead covering black mask with subtle scarlet decorations embroidered over it

He smiled a little and bowed as Jessenna entered the transporter room, showing the barest hint of what looked to be sharp fangs. "Hi, Jessenna."

"Where's your scruff?" Her eyebrows furrowed with a rush of feeling. It was hard to tell if it suited him with half a face but it wasn't so bad. Jessenna was really tempted to touch his skin but resisted.

But maybe that wasn't the calmest introduction. They hadn't spoken since she flew out of the holodeck, angry and embarassed. "I mean," she wasn't very good at this but she was trying. If it failed then it failed. "I like the teeth, and the hat's a nice touch." All of it was, honestly, but she wasn't going to blush so easily. Not unless he wanted to use those fangs anyway.

"So, do you think the transporter can fit all of this," she asked, twirling so he could get a good look, and so she could avoid all the things rolling around in her head.

Micah made it all sound so easy but it was harder to behave than she thought and it hadn't been five minutes yet.

He grinned as his blue eyes observed her from beneath the mask, his slight fangs showing. "I'm sure I can widen the confinement beam to fit. You look beautiful by the way. It strangely matches you, this style, not sure why." He extended his hand to her as he took a step up the transport padd. "I won't bite, I promise, not unless you want me to." A cheeky wink to try to cheer her up.

"Well-" of course she did, that's what she wanted to say. She took ages to pick it out and spent nearly half a day making sure her hair was just so and her make up was flattering without being over done. There were ruffles and pleats and glitter and it made her little heart go pitter-patter.

But she didn't get a good opportunity to make a comeback before Sean winked at her. "Then you couldn't possibly be angry with me if I bit back," she challenged raising a playful eyebrow.

Normally she would have swat his hand away to make room for her ego but even minding her p's and q's- that's what Micah called them but she hadn't a clue what they stood for- it would have been foolish because of the size of her dress. So Jessenna let him be her gentleman and reached for him.

"Wait a second," she demanded from the transporter technician. There was one thing missing.

Miraculously she hadn't crumpled her mask to bits on the way to meet Sean and she quickly put it on, her deft fingers making quick work of the golden ribbon that fastened the piece.

His grin widened, "nice! What with your golden-ish hair and this, you really do live up to Little Spark," he waggled his eyebrows mischievously, "and yes, I won't mind a bite back." He offered his hand again.

Jessenna didn't like the nickname- or so she said- but his antics withdrew a genuine giggle and she punched his arm as she tried to get a grip.

"Then maybe I won't just to make you suffer," she said taking his arm before nodding to the transporter tech who pressed some buttons and swallowed them up with glittering blue light.

---Risa, Event location---

They rematerialized into beauty. At least in Sean's mind. The soft rumbling of the the sea in the bay, the gentle breeze, the smell of everything.

He caught himself quickly though and looked over and somewhat down at his companion. "Wow, not sure who looks better, this place or you." He flashed her a grin and tugged on her hand a little, "come on, let's get closer."

For whatever reason Jessenna had never really been the type to slow down and smell the roses. It wasn't that she actively avoided such romantic notions rather...she just never thought to. Going slow was hard. Maybe that was why she had such a difficult time growing bonds with other people; rolling stones gathered no moss and she was either at a stand still or Warp 9.

So when Sean was looking out at the crashing waves she couldn't help but follow the line of his eyes curiously. What did he see? But she never got to ask as he toppled her over with a compliment and a smile.

"You better know the answer to that, or else," she said. So that was deviating from Micah's instruction a little bit but being diminutive wasn't her style.

He tugged and her first instinct was to act a mule and tug back but she resisted the urge and followed along instead. It felt strange and strange feelings were scarier than a cargo bay full of angry Klingons.

"Careful," she warned, "a fall in this dress will swallow us up like an avalanche and I don't want you getting under my skirts and thinking up the wrong idea again."

He turned to her slowly, waiting for her to catch up. "I do know the answer." He had his calm mask with the miniature smirk on again, "and in the event of a fall, I am calibrated to swoop in and employ anti grav lifters," he moved his arms for emphasis. "Just depends on the lady's preferences and how long she can wait." He had a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"That sounds like a challenge to me," Jessenna replied quickly with a smile, her nose turned up just a little. She looked confident but Sean had a way of making her wonder about a lot of things.

"I've never been to a party like this before, well, not as a guest," security details were either very interesting or very dull, "so, Sean, what are we supposed to do first?" It might not have seemed like much but to allow someone else to dictate events was a large, scary step forward...if she managed to follow through.

Sean grinned, "well events like these its pretty much a mix of mingle, eat, drink, dance, sit around, talk. Reckon the skipper will do a speech at some point, and everyone will dance, we should probably join in then. But until then, how about we grab a glass of what's on offer and take a look around?"

Mingling? That sounded hard to the girl who was used to watching from the outside. And like a waste of time. Why would she want to talk about stuff she didn't care about to strangers? She was there for the dress and for Sean.

The idea of how a party wasn't a party anymore if no one talked didn't even occur to Azadi as though she were outside the rules somehow.

But she didn't complain, rather, she followed his lead to where the drinks were being mixed and poured. Jessenna picked up a flute of some alien champagne she'd never heard of before but figured it was innocent enough. "I don't usually drink in crowds," she commented before taking a sip and pulling a sour face. "Oh my gosh that's- wow," she fanned herself. The drink was not as bubbly as it looked- in fact it was quite tart and dry- and so she handed the glass, the rim decorated with a light shade of lipstick, to Sean and insisted that he try it for himself.

He chuckled softly, having taken a glass of Valyran Red. He eyed her for moment as she handed him the glass. He considered making a joke and asking if her lipstick was dosed somehow but thought the better of it. He didn't want to set her off in front of a crowd.

Instead he took a slow sip, rolled it in his mouth. "Hmm, it's like a mix of pinot griggio and welchesriesling." He commented more to himself than anything, habits died hard. "I'm Irish, I can drink with anyone considerably, but when the occasion is right."

Jessenna raised an eyebrow. Usually that was a dangerous sign. However she kept her hands to herself

"So do you just know everything then," she half asked, half challenged. It was sort of a joke but she was starting to believe it. She completely ignored the fluttering feeling her stomach felt when she thought about it.

"Is a promotion one of those occasions," she asked, fingers brushing against his as she reclaimed her glass.

He gave a self deprecating chuckle, "oh I'm not some all knowing genious, Jessenna," he began as he motioned for them head to the veranda. "My dad owns a brewery and my mom owns the adjoining pub. My brothers and me grew up around alcohol." He explained then shrugged as he took a sip of his own drink, his fingers still tingling a bit from her touch. "So you heard about me still being an NCO only a grade higher then?"

He dodged the occasion explanation for now, not wanting to get decked just quite yet.